NURS8720 – Primary Health Care Constructs and Contexts
Critical analysis of a community health education intervention
Length: 2000 words in total
Aim
The aim of this assignment is to assess the student’s ability to choose a community health education intervention and critically review/evaluate its effectiveness in terms of its overall impact on the health behaviour and health status of targeted individuals and/or groups.
Some examples:
- The Adelaide-based Sammy D Foundation http://www.sammydfoundation.org.au/
- Get Active and Healthy, Townsville
- Healthy Happy Beginnings, Werribee Mercy Hospital, Victoria
- Gudbinji chronic disease programme, Northern Territory
- Warajanga Marnti Warrarnja – Together We Walk on Country, Western Australia
- Resilient Futures (Wellbeing and Resilience Centre) South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)
Assessment Guidelines
Students need to choose a current or recent (within the last 5 years) community supported health education intervention and critically evaluate its effectiveness in terms of its impact on the health behaviour and health status of targeted individuals and/or groups. (A community supported health education intervention relates to an initiative from your own local community and/or council area or regional area).
It is recommended that the student review the health education intervention in a systematic manner that includes:
- Setting the background context of the intervention, including who it is intended to target and how and why they are ‘recruited’ into the program
- Critically detail the practical processes that led to the planning, resourcing and implementation of the intervention.
- Critically evaluate the findings and impact of the health education to date, on the targeted groups health behaviour and health status, including reported successes, limitations, barriers and opportunities.
- Critically review the potential for alternative or wider interventions that might ‘grow’ the original intervention.
- Summarise the intervention in terms of overall effectiveness and lessons learnt.
Field activities
To assist with Assignment 3 you may find it useful to ‘get amongst’ your own community and explore local behavioural health education interventions. You could access these directly as a member of the public in your own community or regional community, as long as it is in Australia. The ‘face to face’ approach is also a good way of exploring how easy or not, it is for the public to access the information (ability pending COVID-19 restrictions).
Important: for professional and ethical reasons you must not arrange formal meetings or interviews with members of the public or with other health professional practitioners. You can only engage with these services as if you were a ‘normal’ member of the public.
Currently employed in a PHC speciality service? If you are currently employed in a PHC speciality service where these activities are already taking place you can access, review and evaluate these programs, but still remembering that you cannot formally interview clients or colleagues